It was agreed that the sight we all wanted to see was a statue park where a lot of old communist statues have been taken to keep them out the way of the masses who might just take offence at being reminded of a dark past. As such the statue park isn't handily located in the center of town so we had to bite the bullet and fathom the transport system. The Rough guide confidently told us to hop on a bus and buy a ticket onboard. Matt tried this and was waved off the bus by the driver - Rough guide docked another point. Investigation of the nearest metro station revealed that they sold tickets at the couner in books of ten. That sorted we waited at the bus stop for the next bus, which seem to come every couple of minutes. This got us as far as the bus station on the edge of the center where we jumped off and hunted around for the relevant bus to take us on further. This was slightly harder than it should have been due to the big fence between our stop and the station we should have been at and the fact that when given a left or right choice we choose poorly. Once at the station we were waiting for the bus and I seem to remember something about the Rough guide stating that the bus went far more often than it actually did but since I can't remember the details I can't really claim -3 points for our beloved RG.
The statue park was more and less what I expected. Less because there weren't as many statues as I had hoped, more because some were far bigger than I thought sensible. The statues were fantastic and we started a game of mimicking each for a photo which soon turned into an obsession that I am pleasd to report was taken up by a few others around the park. While wondering around we were reading out the guide book and it turned out that there were some great stories behind some of them. One fella was running the country during the last round of communist rule which eventually collasped violently. He was last seen flying away from the main council building which was being stormed in a light aircraft with as many of the nations treasures wrapped round his neck in true Indiana Jones style.
The entertainment at the statues gave way to lunch and a look around the souvenir shop whose most entertaining item was a can of 'communist air'. Back in the center the group split for a wonder. I strolled off with Sarah and Eleanor and strolled (fairly aimlessly it shold be said) round some sights in the center; this included a random house with a very colourful roof, the great mosque and a Oxford Universiy Press book shop! Once we had wondered we headed back over the bridge to the Buda side of the city and climbed the hill that the others had headed for earlier. On the way I picked up some beer for Dean as he was keen to have some supplies back at the appartment. This servd to slow me down on the way up the hill but still a little running was teased out of the others! At the top it was quite busy but Eleanor posed by a statue f a rather scantily clan fella wrestling a crocodile (see the photos) after which she couldn't resist taking a peak between his legs which caused an eye on sticks moment. This caused a ripple of laughter round the small crowd and I noticed a couple of others ladies edging closer to the statue to see what the fuss was about.
We beat the other team back to the appartments, having failed to see them sitting outside having a beer on top of the same hill but they soon arrived and we turned our minds to eatting in the evening. A resturant from the guide book, 'Fatal resturant', mainly because the name tickled our fancy but thankfully it didn't live up to it's name. The portions were enormous and Dean failed to finish his meal, made more surprising because Ed had the same and polished his without much pause for thought.